Rail-joint.



L. P. LOGKE.

BAIL JOINT.

APPLIOATIOi rrnnn In 24, 1909.

979,015. mama Dec.20,1 910. 1

6 1 k 55E (Q ,i= vm= WITNESSES: INVENTOR:

94? 7%? v arm i the danger position. f

fstructed, the joints, between the abutting accordance with themovements of, the

breaks in the rails,- since breaks cause in- 25 dition, conductor boiidsare used connecting I the iish plate is not ordinarily depended and thebond ordinarily used. is not neces nnrrnn srarns ra rnnr OFFICE;

LOUIS r. LOCKE, or women, NEW YORK.

RAILJOINT.

Application filed May 24 1909. Serial No. 497,921.

'| sarily broken or disconnected in consequence I To all whom it mayconcern: F

of the breakage of thetish plate.

Be it knownv that l, L'otisl. Lonnie, a citizen of the lnited States,and resident of One objectof the present invention is to Victor, in thecounty of Ontario and State produce an improved rail joint for use in ofNew York, have invented certain. new I connection with a trackconstituting a track and useful Improvements in llailqloints, of icircuit, this joint being so constructed that which the following, is aspecification. a breakage in a "ail will cause an interrup- Thisinvention relates to rail joints for use can in the track circuit eventhough it occur in connection with railways upon which at the extremityof the rail, that is, between electric signaling apparatus is used. I

In modern electric railway s' tiling systems it is common to use trackcircuits or controlling the signals and other traiiic-eontrollingdevices, the current in these circuits flowing from rail to rail, andthe ends of 3 the rails being bonded together in order to allord a morecertain and eiiicieut path for the current. These. track circuits notonly operate in conjunction with the wheels and axes of the trains tocontrol the signals in j ot' the fish plates. To. this end I soconstruct my rail joint that the rails are electrically the fish platesare insulated from the rails, at least at the end portions of the fishplat-es, so as not to constitute electrical tremities.

A form of breakage very common in connection with a rail joint is thebreaking away of the head alone of the rail at the end thereof, and afurther object of the inrention is to so arrange the joint that suchtrains, but they havc the further incidental but valuable characteristicthat they detect terruptigni in the track circuit, and thus havetheveffect of causing signals to assume break extending entirely through'the'rail.

To this end I connect the proximate ex- Inthe track circuit asordinarily con- 5' the rails at their heads, so that in case the ends ofthe rails areniade .iu' the ordinary head of either rail is broken away,this conmanner, that is,-- by means otfish plates f doctor isinterrupted. bolted to the rail ends and more-or less in A third'objectoi the invention is to pro electrical contact with the rails, and, inadduce a rail joint which shall detect a break in a fish plate. Tothisend I so connect the the rails and attached to the rails atpoints beyondthe ends of the fish plates. In such a construction the t'pnction of thetrack citcuit in detecting breaks in-the rails, as abovedescribet'h'isnot con'ipletely performed 'for the reason'thatif such :a breakageoccurs in the extremities of the rails between Ahe points of connectionof the bonds, there is i no interruption to the track circuit. and thebreak is-not'detected. Even in. the absence l of a. bond, this woulddoein general'thc case, sinhe the fish plates themselves, being, inelectrical contact with t-he rails, would act l to transmit thetrackcircuit c i-rent tron! one rail to another through the fish plateand independently of the proximate ex- 1 tremitics of the rails. For thesame.reas n1 the in'dinary track joint affords no provision fordetecting breakage in a tish plate since t the conductor connecting theextremities of tlic -rails,so that in case of a break in the fish plate,this conductor is interrupted and. the track circuit broken.

in the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is u'ti-ansvcrse section of arail joint.en1-, bodying the present invention in its simplest form,taken on the line XX in Fig. 2;

in Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a modified form of the jointadapted to detect a break in a fish plate. a

in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the rails 1 are joinedby fisliiplates are insulated from the rails by sheets of insulatingmaterial 2, the extremities of the rails are insulated from each otherby a. plate 3 of insulating material, and the bolts by which the fishplates are secured in place upon to conduct the track circuit current,

connected at their extremities only, while a breakage shall bedetectechas well as a.

. tremities ot'the rails by a conductor joiningtin the usualnuianiwrrbutthe fish; plates" l I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented'Dec. 20,1910.

I the abutting ends of the rails and the ends bonds between the portionsof the rails substantially removed from their prox1mate'exextremities ofthe 'rails with a fish plate that th .e fish plate constitutes a portionof Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the joint shown tion to the extremitiesof the rails.

i in the usual manner, but being connected only path for the currentflowing through '20 ends of the fish plates, it will interrupt the her.rails beyond the ends 'tending completely through the rail.

' the form illustrated in Fig. 3 is in some cases I preferable.

are also insulated by washers 5 of insulat- 1 ing material. Thisconstruction is the same as that used in the ordinary insulated rail ijoint, but-in the present instance it is em.- ployed not to create aninterruptlon 111 the conduc'tiyity of thetrack, but merely to permit theconfinement of the electrical connec- In Figs. 1 and 2 the rails areconnected by a short bond 6 of any ordinary or usual form, thisbondbeing plugged into the rails with the heads of the rails instead ofbeingconnected with the webs in the usual man- The usual'long bondsconnecting the of the fishplatcs are expressly omitted. In theconstruction above described the the track circuit is through one railto its extremity, thence through the bond (3 to the extremity of theabutting rail. and thence through the latter rail. It is oliwi'ous,therefore, that if either rail is broken, even though such'breakageoccurbetween the The embodiment of the invention illustrated-in Figs. 1and 2 is the simplest embodiment, but it is not adapted to detect breaksin the fish plates, and for this reason In this form of the invention,two bonds are used, each bond connecting the extremity of one rail withone of the fish plates. The two bonds and the intermediate portion ofthe fish plate thus constitute cent extremities.

a short conductor of low resistance connecting the extremities of therails, and in this respect are equivalent to the single bond of Figs. 1and 2. -If the fish plate should? break, however, between the points ofconnection of the two bonds, the eircuit'would thereby be interrupted.Such a break is most likely to'occur in the fish plate at the i I l Ipoint of junction of the two rails,- and thus I.

This form of the invenl between the bonds.

tion gives, therefore, complete protection 'ment thereof hereinbeforedescribed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but may beembodied in various forms with in thenature of the-1nvent1on as it isde-- lined in the following claims.

I claim r 1. The combination of two abutting rails electrically andmechanically connected at their adjacent extremities, said connectionsincluding a fish-plate.secured to the rails and insulated therefrom atits ends.

2. The combination .of two abutting rails electrically and mechanicallyconnecteglat their adjacent extremities, said connectlons including a.bond and a fisl1plate, the fish plate being secured to the rails andbeing insulated therefrom at its ends. A

3. The combination of two abutting fails, and a rail joint comprising ashort conductor of low resistance connecting the heads of the rails attheir adjacent extremities, the rails, except at said points, beingelectrically disconnected from each other.

4-. The combination of two abutting rails, and a rail joint comprising aconductor connecting the heads of the rails and comprising a bondsecured to the head .of one rail substantially at the extremity thereof,the rails, except at the extremities of their heads, being electricallydisconnected from each other.

. 5. The combination of two abutting rails insulated from each other,and a fish plate secured to the rails, the fish plate being 1I1Sll+lated from the rails at its ends and electrically connected with therails at their adja- 6. The combination of two abutting rails insulatedfrom each other, a fish plate secured to the rails and insulatedtherefrom, and two bonds connecting the rails, respectively, with theplate on opposite sides of the joint. Y T. The combination of twoabutting rails insulated from each other, a fish plate secured to therails and insulated therefrom, and two bonds connecting the adjacentextremities of the heads of the-rails, res ectively, with the fish;plate on opposite sides of the joint. 1

- LUUIS P. LOCKE." Witnesses:

C. A. Moons,

B. A. PZILIMPTON.

